Only Half
by Heaven Sent Tenshi
Summary: A chance meeting lands a young youko under the supervision of the Teen Titans. Will this be a delight or desaster when the youko's true character comes out?
1. The Disappearances

Disclaimer: I do not own Teen Titans or anything affiliated with it.

Only Half

By HeavenSentTenshi

Chapter 1: The Disappearances

The sun rose slowly over the tops of the towering trees. The shadows were only just starting to dissipate in the fresh sunlight. Her ears and nose twitched as her eyes slowly surveyed the river before her. Her tongue ran over her lips as a small amount of drool dripped from her chin and joined the water where a trout was swimming, causing it to jet off in fright. In a mixture of frustration and hunger, the dark figure dove into the water, causing a noisy splash to disrupt the surface and a blood curdling screech to tear from her throat.

Less than a mile away, Robin sat straight up in his bed as he spun his head around in time to see the splash on the other side of the river through his window. Confused, he rose from his bed and stood before the pane of glass. He spied a shadow on the bottom of the shallows just before it erupted from the water, screaming and howling, darting back into the trees from which it had originally come. Robin could easily hear from the screaming that whatever it was that had disrupted the river so early in the morning wasn't human, though it had almost looked it. Just as he had decided it best to investigate, there was a rapid knock on his door. He hurried to the metallic barrier and opened it. Standing on the other side was Starfire. She had a disturbed look upon her face as she spoke.

"Robin, I fear I may have seen and heard something most frightening," she whispered through the hands she had held at her mouth.

"That thing by the river?" Robin inquired, figuring that Starfire must have also seen the figure and had been awoken by the scream.

"By the river?" Now looking slightly confused, Starfire shook her head violently. "No, Robin, it is Beast Boy and Cyborg. They have not slept and still continue to play their video games in the living room! It is most... odd." She shuddered at the thought of their lifeless fish-eyes as they had continued to stare at the screen when she had checked on them after hearing Beast Boy howling in joy after finally beating Cyborg for the first time since the afternoon before.

Robin stood in the doorway for a minute before blinking twice and refocusing on Starfire again. "What...?" he asked, still in shock from her answer being so far from what he was expecting.

"Beast Boy and Cyborg, they have just been sitting there staring at the television!" Robin sighed at Starfire's hissing whisper. "I am not sure whether their skulls are occupied any longer by their brains! I fear for their safety!"

"I'm sure they're fine, Star; they've done this before..."

"Not like this, Robin! Their eyes were large and empty!" Starfire held up her hands to her eyes in large circles to signify the enormity and vacancy of their eyes.

"I think I've seen them act like that before. Don't worry about them; they'll come out of it." Robin's voice didn't seem interested, and Starfire noticed it, especially when his eyes traveled back out the window. She raised an eyebrow as she watched him for a moment.

"Robin? Is something wrong?" Thinking, she then remembered what Robin had said earlier. "And what did you mean when you mentioned something in the river?" Robin's eyes returned to her face.

"Never mind... I just saw something dive into the water... didn't you hear it?"

"Hear what?"

"That thing screeching."

"Robin, I believe what you heard was Beast Boy. After he beat Cyborg he began to yell."

Robin paused. He had heard Beast Boy yell before and he was quite sure that not only was it not Beast Boy who had screamed, but he was also sure that it wasn't a very human cry that had issued from the figure in the water. He sighed, undecided as to what to do, before finally following Starfire to the living room to check on the pair. Beast Boy was still hopping around on the couch, bouncing along happily and yipping. Cyborg was attempting to quiet him by challenging him to another game, but Beast Boy was a bit too caught up in his celebrations.

"Beast Boy," Robin called from the doorway, "what are you doing?" Beast Boy paused and looked over at the two, a large grin on his face.

"Guess what, Robin! I won!" It was quite easy to tell that Beast Boy was sleep deprived, especially as Cyborg reached up, grabbed the top of his sleeve and pulled him down onto the couch again before handing him the controller.

"Double or nothing," Cyborg muttered.

Beast Boy grinned again and shouted, "You're on!" just as Starfire and Robin sighed.

"I told you things are normal…" Robin muttered, turning and leaving Starfire alone in the doorway. He strode down the hallway toward his room. He wasn't sure whether the creature was something he should even worry about anymore, though he was afraid for the city's safety. If that thing was blood thirsty, which he wasn't sure of, than something would have to be done; though at the moment, it didn't seem to be something he should lose sleep over.

Just as he reached his room, the small communicator at his hip went off. Opening it, Starfire's face appeared on the screen. He was sure that she would be calling about Cyborg and Beast Boy again and he was just about to tell her off for using it in such a childish way before Starfire said something.

"Robin, I believe you should return to the living room." Her face was very serious as she said this; something about it troubled Robin. "Something has happened and I believe we should check into it."

Confused, Robin nodded and returned to the living room as quickly as he could. When the door opened, he found that the video games had been shut off and the news had been turned on. Cyborg and Beast Boy were in nearly the same positions he had left them in; both of them were sitting on the couch with the controllers still in their hands. Raven was now standing behind the couch next to Starfire, who had the remote to the TV in her hand. All four looked back when Robin entered, though Starfire was first to speak.

"It's terrible, Robin! Many people have just disappeared!"

"I wouldn't say many, Starfire," Raven began, "There was only three."

"Three?" Robin questioned. Raven motioned to the screen as the anchorman there repeated the story the four had just heard on another news channel.

"And now, for this morning's top story. Late last night, around the time of eleven pm, three young men were found to have disappeared. Normally, the police would not suspect kidnapping or foul play, however, many eye-witness accounts claim to have seen the three men one moment, and within the next they had simply vanished."

"Vanished?" Robin muttered. The four nodded as the anchorman continued.

"One witness had with her a video camera, and was able to capture this chilling scene." The tiny screen behind the anchorman enveloped the television and blacked-out. The next moment, many people could be seen, crowded around a dark skating ramp. The camera looked over to a small flyer that headed "Tonight Only, Midnight Skate-A-Thon". Suddenly, the picture jerked up to capture a skateboarder successfully landing a large jump before returning to what seemed to be eye level. A small group was gathered at the base of the ramp; one of them turned around and waved. The camera neared them as a huge cheer rose up. Two others turned around too. The young man who turned around first had short, spiked, black hair, a young, kind face, a black shirt with indistinguishable white print on it, and baggy black pants. The second had dirty blond hair pulled back into a tiny pony tail at the base of his neck, a dark blue shirt and milky white cargo pants. The third also had black hair, though his was slicked back, his face was a bit more angular than the first, and he sported a blood red hooded sweat shirt with black print and a pair of baggy blue jeans. The three of them looked to be around the age of eighteen. Another cheer rose up as the camera jolted up again and then back down. One of the teens playfully covered the camera with his hand before the four of them laughed. When the hand pulled away there was a shriek. The three teens stood just in front of the camera, staring behind it, their eyes full of what could only be described as pure fear; and then they were no longer there. Hundreds of screams pierced the air as the camera fell to the ground and the screen went blank.

"As you can see," the anchorman continued, "what the witnesses say seems to be quite true. The police began searching for the kidnapper and also wish to find out what caused the teens to disappear as they did. So far, nothing has been concluded." At this, Raven hit the power button on the remote.

"That's about all the information they'll give," she explained.

"Well, I guess everyone knows what that means, then," Robin stated. Everyone nodded as he turned around and motioned for them to follow. "We have to find those guys and figure out who or what did this."


	2. The Culprit

Only Half

By HeavenSentTenshi

Chapter 2: The Culprit

As the small group of five reached the skate park, they were greeted by a large group of police officers. It didn't take them long to negotiate their way in and were eventually led to the scene of the disappearances. Cyborg ducked under the yellow police tape and activated a small electronic device in his arm; this device sent out electronic pulses which were meant to search out any disturbances in the air. Confused by the lack of evidence the device found, Cyborg looked over at the rest of the group who had passed the tape and were each looking in their own manner; Beast Boy had transformed into a blood hound and was sniffing at the ground while the rest searched with their eyes for anything helpful.

"I'm not picking anything up," Cyborg informed, "Anybody see anything?"

"Yeah," Beast Boy muttered. He had transformed into his normal state and was squatting over a patch of cement just outside the tape. He pointed to the ground where a few small drops of blood rested. "Check this out."

Robin walked over to where Beast Boy was sitting. He pulled out a small vile and collected a minimal sample of the blood droplets. "Here, Cyborg," he called, tossing the now corked vile to him, "See if you can run a test on this when we back to the Tower." Cyborg nodded as he placed the vile in a small compartment in his left arm. When Robin stood back up, he noticed that Beast Boy was gone. "Guys, where'd-" Raven pointed behind him to a thinning crowd of police officers. There was a green streak and before anyone could say anything else, Beast Boy stood up, again in his normal state.

"Hey! There's some more blood over here!" He waved them over as the group either ran or floated to where he stood. Indeed there were a couple more drops on the ground. Scanning the area, it was apparent that there was a very thin and nearly invisible trail of blood leading back through the city, off toward the docks.

"This is quite odd," Starfire began, "Is it possible that this blood belongs to the culprit?"

"It probably does…" Cyborg muttered as he collected as much more blood as he could; the better to test with.

"I doubt running a blood test will help us," Raven informed as she took the vile from Cyborg and studied it closely. "It doesn't seem human… it looks…"

"…cloudy," Beast Boy piped up. Indeed, there seemed to be an odd murkiness to the blood sample, though it didn't seem to have been contaminated from sitting out in the open for so long.

"Not just that," Raven continued. "It almost looks… pearlescent." Again correct, the blood seemed to shimmer in the early sunlight. "I believe running a test on this will only show us that it isn't human."

Cyborg snatched the vile back and again placed it in his arm compartment. "Well, then, maybe it'll give us a hint as to _what _it belongs to."

"Ok, so now what?" Beast Boy asked, scratching his head.

"We follow the trail," Robin instructed, "Cyborg, you go back to the Tower and see if you can get a reading on what it is; the rest of us will see if we can find it."

"There's one problem with that," Beast Boy pointed out. He'd again run off in some odd direction and was waving them over once more. He motioned to the ground where a few more murky, pearlescent drops of blood resided. "there's two trails."

Robin barely hesitated this time. "Alright; Raven, Beast Boy, you two will follow that trail," he pointed to new track, "and Starfire and I will follow the original one. Everyone understand?" The other four nodded their heads as they all went off in their separate directions.

It didn't take long before the two groups of two learned that their trail stopped at the riverside. Robin's initial thought was that it must have swam across, thinking perhaps that thing that he'd saw that morning might have actually had something to do with it. He instructed Starfire to fly over to the other side to look for any signs of the odd blood. At approximately the same time, Beast Boy and Raven both flew to the other side of the river and began a short-lived search. Both groups came up positive in their searches and again followed the nearly invisible trail once more.

Beast Boy had reverted to a blood hound as soon as he had touched the other bank and Raven was merely following behind. They walked for several minutes in silence before Beast Boy caught a whiff of something most foul. His nose seared as he reared back and wheeled around, shifting back to his normal state as he landed on his stomach on the ground and held his nose with a disgusted look on his face.

Raven looked down at him in annoyance. "Don't tell me you smell _another_ skunk."

"No, this definitely _isn't_ a skunk! Either that or it's road kill…" Beast Boy whimpered.

"Well, then, what is it?"

"I dunno, but I think I smell blood."

"Beast Boy, we're following a _trail_ of blood!"

"No, no, no; it's, like, a massive amount! Way more that what we're following."

"I don't smell anything…"

"Well, then sniff harder!" Raven grumbled something incoherent as she stepped over him and advanced down the trail. Beast Boy leapt to his feet and followed after her, thinking it best not to have a heightened sense of smell. It didn't take long before Raven stopped in her tracks, covering her nose because of the rancid stench. Beast Boy looked up. "Told'ya."

Raven's eyes shifted around, attempted to see what she could smell, though failing. "What do you think it is?"

"Other than a massive amount of blood and rotting flesh? I dunno, you tell me."

"Well, it definitely smells of death…"

"You don't think it's those teens, do ya?"

"I hope for their sakes it isn't." With this said, Raven then continued on, her nose plugged. After a moment of walking, she stopped again. She could hear something, though she wasn't completely sure of what it was; she guessed that it was of something… _eating_. She looked back at Beast Boy. "Do you hear that?" He stopped and transformed into a rabbit. His ears perked up and soon he caught the noise. He nodded a little bunny nod to Raven then transformed into a green blue jay and flew off to see if he could catch sight of what was making the noise with Raven just moments behind.

Directly ahead of the pair were Robin and Starfire. They had been following their trail as well; unbeknownst to them, they were heading directly toward their friends. As they grew closer to them, they also began to smell the disgusting pong; they, too, identified it as blood and rotting flesh. Just as the other group had, they plugged their noses and continued on before hearing the very same noise that Raven had. The pair continued until they came to a thin veil of trees and peered through it. The first thing they saw was identical to what Raven and Beast Boy just noticed as they were watching in a tree not thirty feet from them.

It was a small clearing, enclosed on all sides and covered by a canopy of tree limbs, needles, and leaves. Sunlight streaked down through small holes in the ceiling, touching small patches of grass and the carpet of moss. Tiny flowers poked up through the grass blades, covered in red. A blanket of crimson engrossed everything around the gory scene. Three bodies lay lifeless upon the moss as a dark figure sat hunched over one. One body had short black hair, short enough to spike; the second had bloody blonde hair, long enough to have once made a pony tail at the base of his neck; the third also had black hair, and there were clues to show that it may have at one point been slicked back, though now it was mostly messy and streaked with blood. Their clothes lay in shreds; black, blue, and red fabric hung off of their chests, one of them was torn open. The dark figure was hunched over the blonde, his blue shirt in tatters, his neck ravaged and torn to shreds, his face and body mangled, his blood covering the figure and his friends. It was an absolute horror to see; especially while the figure was tearing out chunks of flesh and muscle, hungrily devouring it.

Raven and Beast Boy looked sick to their stomachs, and Starfire didn't lay eyes upon the scene for more than a moment before hiding her face in Robin's chest, while he himself looked on in a mixture of anger and disgust; anger that that thing would do something like this and that he hadn't been able to stop it.

Suddenly, Robin's communicator went off. The creature's head suddenly snapped up, its face now visible, though only just barely through the blood; it looked human, except for the fangs and ears. The ears were not where they normally are for a human, instead they were perched upon the top of its head; two small, black fox ears, partially covered by a long throng of black hair. It wiped its mouth and surveyed the clearing. Robin opened the communicator to see Cyborg's face on the screen.

"Robin, I just found something."

"Yeah, so did we." He pointed the communicator at the clearing and was sure he heard Cyborg reel in disgust. The creature, hearing the conversation, stood up on its hind legs. The first things they all saw was the fuzzy, black fox tail and the clear signs that proved that it was a "she". She sported an odd, "X" shaped shirt; clearly it was just two strips of black fabric pulled over her chest and tied in the back; as well as a skirt that was as simple as the shirt; a piece of black fabric wrapped around her waist and tied at her left hip. Growling, the odd humanoid figure took one step back, but only just before Beast Boy dove from the tree, transformed into an ape, and held her in a tight grip. The creature screeched and thrashed, attempting to release itself from his grip. Raven leapt from the tree as well and created a black bubble with which to hold the screaming beast. Robin stepped into the clearing with Starfire just behind him, her eyes shut tight and her arm around Robin's, as not to get lost.

Cyborg was the first one to say anything, though he wasn't exactly there. "What is it?"

"Dangerous," Raven growled, setting the ball upon the ground.

"I've never seen anything like it," Beast Boy added; he being the animal expert, this caused a bit of confusion.

After a pause, Robin looked up. "I have." Now thoroughly confused, the group looked over to him. "I saw that thing jump out of the river near the Tower; it woke me up this morning."

Starfire opened one eye gingerly to see what it was. "Is this what you were talking about, Robin?"

"Yeah. I don't know what it is, though."

"I think it's a she," Beast Boy informed, poking the bubble. The creature screeched and growled just before attempting to attack him, only to be sent backward to the other side by a force Raven created.

"What are we to do with the boys?" Starfire asked, still refusing to lay eyes upon them again.

"We'll contact the police, they'll clean it up," Robin instructed. Just then, the creature howled in fury and pressed herself against the wall.

"No! Food!" she screamed, sending shivers down their spines. Surprised that she could talk, they watched her growl and snarl for a moment.

"That's absolutely disgusting." Beast Boy shuttered, nearly sick to his stomach again.

"We should take _her_ to the police as well," Robin began, "they'll find some place high-security enough to keep her."

"Uh, hang on, Robin," Cyborg piped up. "Maybe jail isn't a good place to put her; she seems pretty… wild."

"I believe the pound would suffice," Raven muttered.

"No," Cyborg protested, "Bring her back to the Tower; that blood we found had some weird DNA in it; I wanna run some tests."

"Weird DNA?" Robin asked, holding the communicator up to his face.

"Yeah; I'll explain when you guys get back." The communicator then went blank.

"Alright guys; let's get back to the Tower. I'll call the police." Robin did so as the four of them left the terrible scene. Just as the clearing was emptied, another dark, hunched-over figure emerged from the foliage, a snarling laugh emanating from its throat as it bent over the blonde and began to eat.


	3. Hybrid or Mutt?

Only Half

By HeavenSentTenshi

Chapter 3: Hybrid or Mutt?

"Hybrid DNA?" Robin asked, looking thoroughly confused as to what Cyborg was attempting to explain to them. The group of five was standing in a room separated by a pane of bullet-proof glass from the one the creature they had caught was being held in.

"Well, basically, yeah," Cyborg answered, glancing up at the screen behind him which showed the data he had collected from the blood sample. "I found that the DNA strands in the blood we found showed signs of being human, but… there was evidence of something that resembled fox DNA wound into it."

"Well, that explains the ears and tail," Beast Boy muttered. He had his back against the window and was looking into the room. The girl was lying on a steel table, a multitude of leather bindings keeping her from moving. Her chest was heaving at a rapid rate as she struggled futilely against her fastenings. She had given up on screeching when she finally learned that the room must be soundproof. She was frightened now; she had been since they took her away from her home.

"We don't even know if the blood is hers," Cyborg argued, now studying the screen as Raven and Robin did the same. Starfire was also watching the creature as she attempted to gain her freedom, all the while looking distraught and frustrated.

"Have you thought of cross referencing her blood with the sample?" Robin asked, looking over at the creature as well, who was still covered from head to toe in blood. Cyborg nodded.

"I was planning on that," he informed as he picked up a small package containing a sterilized needle inside it. At that moment, the creature had stopped moving. Her eyes reopened, as she had closed them in her futile attempt to escape, and she looked over just as Cyborg had retrieved the sharp object from the table near the computer. Her eyes suddenly widened as she thrashed and screamed, deaf to them, and they deaf to her, though Starfire and Beast Boy were watching her closely.

"She seems quite upset," Starfire remarked.

"Think she's afraid of needles?" Beast Boy joked, a small smirk upon his face.

"Whatever the case," Raven began, her arms crossed beneath her cloak as she leaned against the opposite wall, "we need the blood sample. Go and do it, Cyborg."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah…" he muttered in response, moving to the steel door beside the window. He typed a code into a small keypad beside the door and it slid to the right as he stepped through. When the door had opened, a deafening wail echoed around the room. Everyone slapped their hands over their ears as their ear drums screamed in pain, just as the creature was. Cyborg retrieved a clean towel and approached her, grimacing from the horrible pain in his ears. When he was within three feet from her, she stopped moving, the screeching stopped, and silence engulfed the air. Her eyes were fixed on the sharp object in Cyborg's hand, her breathing ragged. She was sure he was going to kill her; she'd heard of humans using needles full of poison to kill other humans, and now, though she couldn't see whether there was anything in it or not, she was sure she would die.

Everyone watched her; she wasn't moving and they weren't sure why. Cyborg slowly reached for a jug of water, which was sitting on a table beside him; originally the water was meant for her to be able to drink, though he was going to use it for something more practical. He dribbled the water over the towel and positioned himself so that he was just above her head, and behind the table. Carefully, as not to startle or frighten her, Cyborg began to wipe the blood from her face. When he finished she looked up at him with the most puzzled expression. Cyborg, seeing that this creature wasn't going to act in such a savage way at the moment, then moved down to her bloodiest arm, her right one. He then ran the towel over her skin; but not without a reaction, this one a bit more hostile than the last. She howled in sheer pain as Cyborg attempted to clean up her arm. Confused as to this corollary, he pulled the towel away and tried his best to calm her as the others watched, equally bewildered. Soon, the creature stopped her shrieking and lay upon the table, taking in deep gulps of air. By this time, Robin, Beast Boy, and Starfire had entered the room; Raven was standing somewhere near the doorway.

"What was that for?" Beast Boy whimpered, rubbing at his pulsating ears.

"Her arm must be wounded…" Cyborg wondered aloud.

"That would explain the drops of blood near the scene," Robin added.

"As well as why that arm is covered most in it," Starfire pointed out.

"And why she was easy to capture," Raven reasoned, "Loss of blood will weaken anything, including something that doesn't seem to be completely human."

"Guess so," Cyborg muttered as he pulled the vile off of the end of the needle. "Makes the job easier, too; I won't have to stick it in her arm, just capture some of the fresh stuff." He wiped at her arm again, causing her to shriek, but this time held the container near where he guessed the wound was. Red liquid seeped over the lip and down to the bottom, pooling there. "That should be enough," Cyborg guessed after a moment. He then returned to the other room to run a few tests on the newly acquired blood.

"So, what all do you have to do?" Beast Boy inquired; now having crawled up on his shoulder, he was able to watch.

"If you get of me, maybe I'll tell you," Cyborg stated as he turned away from the computer for a moment before turning back when Beast Boy had leapt off. "Basically, I just have to add the blood sample to the computer's database, extract the DNA from it, then…. Where'd I lose you this time?" Beast Boy had begun to stare at him blankly.

"Uh… I think it was after the word 'basically'."

Cyborg sighed in exasperation. "Never mind…." He then went back to his work as Beast Boy returned to the window.

Starfire had taken up where Cyborg had left off in cleaning the creature up. It seemed that she had been able to convince her that she didn't mean to harm her and had begun cleaning up her right arm while she winced and gritted her teeth. Now that most of the dried blood had been cleaned away, it was apparent that something had scratched her; it was also noticeable that the scratch had become infected. The skin around the wound was turning an off white color, easily distinguishable from the dark tan of her normal skin. Robin had left the room and soon returned with a fist aid kit, which Starfire had asked for. Together, the two began to clean and wrap the wound while the creature lay completely still from shock. She had never expected them to help her.

"Alright," Cyborg then muttered, turning back to the group, "I think we have hard evidence enough."

"What do you mean, Cyborg?" Robin asked, returning to the room opposite the creature, while towel drying his hands on another towel after washing the blood from them.

"It's a match," he informed, "Her DNA and the DNA we collected from the blood droplets are exactly the same. According to this, she's gotta be the murderer."

"Did you find out what she is?" Beast Boy asked.

"Well, not exactly…" Cyborg muttered, "But I've got a guess."

"Well?" Raven pressed as Starfire reentered the room as well and stood beside Robin.

Cyborg turned around and pressed a key on the large keyboard. A light tan background engulfed the screen. Ancient Japanese charactures and lists of information accompanied it, as well as a bold title; Japanese Legends, Kitsune and Youko.

"I believe she is what the Japanese refer to as Kitsune, a fox spirit or demon of some type."

"Nice deduction… though you're wrong." The group of five turned their heads suddenly to face behind them. The creature was holding herself up as high as she could, a serious look on her face. That was the most they had heard from her since she had shouted something about food.

"Wrong?" Cyborg asked carefully, pausing for a moment, "Then, what are you?"

"I'm half."


End file.
